History Repeats Itself
by Lady Elizabeth of New York
Summary: Harry is surprised to learn that James was friends with Hermione's mother, Jackie. A strong friendship that made Lily green with jealousy. Apparently, Jackie and James were as close as brother and sister. And even though Lily was friends with Jackie, she was suspicious of them. Now where has Harry heard that before?


The clock struck eight as Sirius poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice before picking up this morning's paper. Harry sighed as he quietly ate his toast, feeling stressed and slightly annoyed. Sirius peered at him over his newspaper.

"Something wrong, Harry?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Ron's angry," he answered. He hated it when his best friend was in a bad mood. Especially when it involved Hermione. Harry absolutely hated it when they fought.

"What's he cross about this time?" Sirius wondered. "That boy really should learn to control his temper. He gets angry for every little thing." Remus snorted, clearly thinking about the fact that he was not one to talk. Sirius glared at his friend. "Shut up, Moony."

"He's upset about Hermione thinking I was the Gryffindor prefect," Harry explained, ignoring the exchange between the two men. He quickly learnt that that was a normal occurrence between them.

"Why would he be upset about that?" Remus asked.

"Same reason why Lily was upset with James exchanging letters with Jackie Burke," Sirius said, folding his newspaper and placing it down on the table. He gave Remus a meaningful look, and the other man nodded, realizing exactly what incident Sirius was alluding to.

Harry, on the hand, did not, and was confused. "Who's Jackie Burke?" Harry asked, drawing his brows together as he looked between the two men.

"You mean you've never met her? I thought Hermione would have at least introduced the two of you to each other," Sirius said in bewilderment.

"I'm sure she did. Harry probably just doesn't know her first name or that Burke was her maiden name," Remus told him before turning to Harry. "Jackie Burke is Hermione's mother. She was a good friend of your dad."

"Really? I didn't know that Hermione's mum knew my dad," Harry commented, leaning forward in interest. He wondered why Hermione never mentioned that.

"I don't think Hermione knew," Remus explained. "Jackie was never one who liked talking about things that upset her. I remember when James took us to her grandmother's funeral. The only person she cried in front of was him."

"In fact, James was the only person she really talked to about things like that. They were really close. It was no wonder Lily got jealous of her even though they said that they were like brother and sister," Sirius said.

Harry's eyes widened. "So you're saying my mum hated Hermione's mum?" he asked

Sirius barked a laugh. "No way," he answered, shaking his head. "Lily loved Jackie like the sister she never had."

"Lily had a sister," Remus reminded him.

"I know that. That's why I said the sister she _never_ had," Sirius repeated himself in a 'duh' tone. Remus rolled his eyes at him. "Now as I was saying. Lily loved Jackie but she always felt inferior to her; kinda like how Ron feels inferior to you."

"But why? I never tried to make him feel like that," Harry protested.

"Of course you didn't, Harry. No one's blaming you. I think that if we tell you the story of Jackie and James, you'll understand," Remus told him reassuringly.

"Oooh, story time!" Sirius exclaimed, rubbing his hands gleefully as if he was a small child alone in a sweets shop. "Should I get everyone?"

"No, this story is just for Harry and Harry only," Remus said sternly. "Now it all began…"

"Why do you get to tell the story?" Sirius interrupted, glaring slightly at him. "I was actually there when they met. I should tell the story."

Remus met his stare easily and pointedly said, "Because you'll make it dirty."

"I won't," Sirius promised. Remus looked at him skeptically. "I'll behave, I promise. Please, Moony, please."

Remus groaned. "Fine, go ahead."

* * *

The first time James met Jackie was when he was thirteen and she was sixteen.

It was the summer after second year and Sirius was staying with James. The two boys were spending their time at the center of a muggle town in the midst of the sweltering weather. They had spotted Jackie and her friends coming out of a movie theater and Sirius had bet him ten galleons that he couldn't get a date with the older girl. James, never being one to back down from a dare, scoffed at him before walking towards the group of girls.

He walked until he stood right in front of Jackie, a pretty girl with curling brown hair and a light smattering of freckles dusted across her nose, armed with a litany of pick up lines he had found in a muggle book. Jackie and her friends stopped talking as he came up and they all stared at him with raised eyebrows. Another boy would have probably lost his nerve when faced by a horde of teenage girls three years his senior, but not James. In fact, he took his chance to flash them a smile which his mum said made him look cute.

"Hey baby, if I were a stop light, I'd turn red every time you passed by, just so I could stare at you a bit longer," James said with a grin.

Jackie's friends scoffed and one of them even said, quite cruelly, "Get lost, kid; there's a playground down the street," but not Jackie. She laughed good-naturedly and smiled at him.

"That was cute. I liked it. But I think I'm a little too old for you," she said nicely to him.

"Age is but a number," James told her happily. He was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't reacted to him like her friends had. "Speaking of numbers," he continued, deciding to give another pick up line a go, "I lost mine. Can I have yours?"

Jackie shook her head at him. "Sorry, I don't give my number to people, I don't know."

"I'm James Potter. What else do you need to know about me? Other than the fact that I do believe in angels because I met you," he said smoothly, raking a hand through his messy dark hair.

She laughed. "You just won't stop, will you?" Jackie said, still smiling fondly at the boy.

"I'll stop if you go out with me," James said to her with a wink.

"Well, I'll tell you what. If you're still interested when you're eighteen, I'll go out with you," she told him.

"Jackie, what if he holds you to that," one of her friends hissed.

"Oh, I definitely will," James answered with an impish grin. "See you in seven years, Miss Jackie."

With that, James walked back towards Sirius.

"Well how did it go?" he asked eagerly. "I didn't see her slap you."

"She said yes," James replied with smirk.

"Great job. When's the date?" he said, impressed.

"In seven years," James answered, looking over at the pretty brunette. She waved at him and James waved back.

"What? James, that doesn't count," Sirius snapped.

"Yes, it does. You just said I had to get a date with her, you never said when," James reminded him firmly.

"Oh come on. You're probably never going to see this girl again. There is no way you're going to go out with her tomorrow let alone seven years," Sirius grumbled.

"She still said yes, so give me my money," James said smugly.

"Fine," he said grudgingly, handing over the ten galleons.

"By the way, Sirius, do you know what a stoplight is?"

* * *

That should have been the end of it. Because what were the chances that Jackie and James would ever met again? As it turned out, the chances were better than one would have thought.

One year later after the bet in that stuffy muggle city, Jackie and James bumped into each other again and became friends under the strangest circumstances. But that was an entirely other tale.


End file.
